Video Content Strategy

Want to produce good video content? You’ll be needing a good video content strategy.

To make any sort of impact, you need video content that speaks to your target audience in a way that rings true, and a way they can’t ignore. This is where your video content strategy comes in.

We find mapping things out is the only guaranteed way to arrive at the destination we want. And it’s the same with video content. If you don’t know what you’re trying to achieve, how can you stay on track? Before you start throwing ideas around, make sure you know what the point is. Know, too, that you need to create something good enough for people to actually want to watch it.

How do you form a good video content strategy?

Research, research, and research some more. We spend time with your key people and a cross section of your customers to uncover current perceptions, challenges, and needs. This tells us how your offer fits in – the problem you’re solving for your viewer and the value you’re bringing them – and helps us figure out what truly sets you apart from your competitors.

Our findings will lead to a content plan designed to connect with the target audience and guide them to the next stage in their journey with you.

We work in three stages:

Define your core video content strategyFirst up, it’s about finding the sweet spot where your viewers’ passions and your brand proposition meet. What do they want that you can give them? What unique content can you offer to earn their loyalty? Experience has taught us there are three main ways to make your audience care about your content: either inspire them with stories they can relate to; educate them with useful information; or entertain them with content that’s surprising, humorous or just plain brilliant.

Define your content creation strategy Decide how to generate your content and then how to structure it. For generating content you’ve got three main options. You can create it yourself, you can make it in collaboration, or you can curate and edit existing content. For anything you’re producing from scratch, we recommend the hygiene, hub and hero model:

Hygiene content is the hardworking content that’s there 365 days a year, pulling in new viewers by offering them relevant content around the terms they’re searching for. It typically includes product tutorials and how-to videos – content that answers a specific question.

Hub content is designed to entertain people and keep them coming back to you regularly. It should be updated periodically and encourage viewers to subscribe.

Hero content is made to drive mass awareness. It’s often centered around a product or event launch and works by entertaining and inspiring viewers, usually using some form of storytelling. An example would be Felix Baumgartner jumping from the edge of space for Red Bull. But you don’t need to go to quite those lengths.

Define your content distribution strategy Next you’ll need to think about how to distribute and market your content so it’s seen by as many of your target audience as possible. Again, this can be divided into three parts:

Store: It’s a good idea to have a bit of a content library – a central place to keep it stored and organized, where it’s always accessible to your audience.

Deliver: An editorial calendar will help you make sure you’re offering varied content all year round.

Market: There’s a lot of content out there, and that’s putting it mildly. To make sure your audience can find yours, you need a solid marketing strategy. The channels you’ll use will depend on your business and the type of content, but generally, it’s about smart distribution among top influencers, blogs and social media; targeted advertising; and YouTube optimization. Hero content should be accompanied by a big promotional campaign across multiple channels, while hub content calls for closer targeting.